Worthy of the Name
by Irish Yasha
Summary: Sesshomaru's view of "raising" his brother. Disclaimer: The wonderful characters of the amazing show that is Inuyasha do not belong to me. Sadly :


**Hear ye, hear ye, I have arisen from the grave of Summer Vacation. I know I should be working on Hoshi, but this popped into my head God-knows-when **** I'm finally posting it.**

**This is a one-shot I decided to do since Hoshi is currently suffering from ELP. Extreme Lack of Plot. I hear it's a very deadly disease in fan fiction. Yes. Very deadly.**

**I really don't have an idea for this, but if I like it enough, I might continue it. Not sure how, but I might.**

**Basically Sesshomaru's view on how he "raises" Inuyasha. Complete with an Inu-Papa flashback. Huzzah.**

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There he is. My little brother. The half-breed. The disgrace. The only hope I have of a real family anymore. And I will have to push that hope aside. Push him aside, for if _they_ find out—if anyone finds out—they would surely use him against me.

His mother—that human woman sleeping beside him, Izayoi—does not know I come here late at night. Just to see him. Wishing that I could hold him. As an older brother should. As I look at his sleeping face, I see my father, the Inu no Taisho, and can't help but smile. I can smile here. In the presence of my little brother.

I think of him, and how _he_ smiles in his sleep. How I would give anything to protect that smile. But how? I know nothing of raising children, and he will surely be on his own in a few years. His mother's demon mate has died. She will survive long enough to teach him the basics of survival, and then she will join her mate. She will wither away. And he will be left with no one but I, Sesshomaru.

I am seventeen in human years; Inuyasha is only three months old. The snow that was stained with our father's blood has long since melted, and the flowers of spring have appeared. I watch as my little brother stirs, opening his golden eyes. Mother once told me pups born with bright eyes were destined for greatness. His eyes are bright. He will wield the Tessaiga, and be known throughout the land. He notices that I watch him, and he grins. His fangs are so small, how will he hunt?

I stare, mildly surprised, when he reaches for me. Does he not know I, Sesshomaru, could easily kill him? I am a full grown demon he does not know, and he wants me to _pick him up_? His naivety has always intrigued me.

I softly bark to him, _You do not know me, why do you ask for me?_ Being a dog-demon, he should understand no matter how young he is.

I'm surprised by his reply, _Your scent is familiar._

_Foolish pup_, I admonish him,_ You should not be so trusting_.

His little face falls and his ears flatten against his head. He looks as though I have kicked him. It is then that I look into his eyes. Sadness. Loneliness. Rejection. Shame. So many emotions flicker across those tiny gold orbs. He should not be so open, he will only get hurt.

I am suddenly overcome by a fierce longing. Thoughts fly through my head. Petty, childish thoughts. I want to hold him. I want to be his big brother. I _want_ him to look up at me from my arms, completely confident in the fact that I will never drop him. And I, Sesshomaru, always get what I want.

I walk slowly, silently past the screen and into the room. His mother turns in her sleep, slightly picking up on my demonic aura. But even now, she is dying, and what small powers she has are slowly diminishing. Deftly scooping up my little brother, wrapped up in the Fire-Rat robe, I feel an immense…joy.

Yes, as emotionless as people—humans and demons alike—seem to think I am I know what they are. You have to feel emotions in the first place to be able to discard them and deem them "useless." But for now, I will not push this feeling aside. I have not felt so…light…in centuries, and I refuse to give it up now. My little brother giggles, as only babies can do, and attempts to speak to me in the humans' language. His speech comes out sounding like gurgles. I find myself amused with his efforts.

_Enough,_ I yip softly, _You will not be able to communicate with me that way._

He whines,_ But Mother speaks that way all the time. She can't understand me when I talk to her though._

I chuckle light-heartedly at his complaint, but stop when he snuggles deeper into my chest. I hold him for a few moments more, and then lay him back beside his mother when I am sure he is asleep. I have been here long enough and turn to leave. My little brother will not remember this night, for he is too young. But I will. And I, Sesshomaru will secretly cherish the moment I held my little brother, Inuyasha.

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Some years have passed since I last saw my little brother. I have been adjusting to the position of Lord of the West, though technically I suppose I am the new Inu no Taisho. It has been this way for millennia. When the Inu no Taisho dies or retires, his son or his successor takes the position—and the title. But I cannot bring myself to be called the Inu no Taisho. For I, Sesshomaru, have yet to match my father.

Most days I wander, as my father before me did. Seeking more power, to live up to his respected name. It is a rare day, for I am visiting my mother in her palace above the clouds. On this day, I receive word that Inuyasha's mother has died, leaving only her son behind. I race to the village where my little brother was last seen.

I find him on a bank near a small lake. Far from the village where he and his mother had lived. He is curled up, with his arms wrapped around his knees. Behind him is a stone. The name "Izayoi" is engraved in it. He is crying, as human children are prone to do when they lose a loved one, but his demon blood tells him to hide his tears, even if he is alone. I have tired of the smell of salt water.

_Enough crying_, I growl at him,_ Tears will not bring her back._

He jumps up, surprised. I can see his body tense up and prepare to flee. As if he could outrun this Sesshomaru.

"Wh-who are you?" he asks.

_Does it matter? Or do you truly not recognize me?_ I bark softly.

"What? I'm not a dog, in case you ain't noticed." He looks at me as though I am mocking him. I feel myself become angry. Has he abandoned his own language? Insolence!

"Do you not know your own tongue?" I scold. He is only a pup, but even he should have been able to understand me.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" He is beginning to panic. Fool. Panicking will only get you killed.

I decide to give our "relationship" a clean break. If I push him away now, neither of us will be hurt in the future, "I, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, am your brother. Well, half-brother I suppose. I am no half-breed as you are."

I could see the flicker of hope when I told him I was his brother; and the wave of pain when I called him a half-breed. I suddenly want to hold him, tell him I did not mean it, that everything would be alright. Then I become angry at myself for feeling such weakness. So I put that anger to good use—taking it out on him.

I sneer, "You are a disgrace. A demon that feels compassion towards humans. You will not survive a year without your mother here to protect you."

"Yeah, right! I'll show you! I'll become the strongest demon ever, and then you and everyone else won't ever say somethin' like that again!"

So the pup is either brave or down right stupid.

"You do realize, _half-breed_, that you have unofficially challenged me," I say. I hold up my right claw, letting the poison that runs through my veins gather there.

"Like I care! I'm always 'unofficially challenging' people. Even if I just _look_ at them I 'challenge' them!"

Be that as it may, you must learn your place among demons, little brother.

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I have taught him what I can—for now. As I walk away from his beaten form, a memory of one of my first lessons comes to me.

**Flashback:**

"_Sesshomaru!"_

_Even as a pup, I knew that when Father was angry, hiding from him was impossible._

_And yet, like all children, I still tried._

_Though I must admit that hiding in his fluffy tail was not the smartest thing to do. He grabbed me by the back of my neck and hoisted me to his eye level._

Sesshomaru, _he growled_, where is Sou'unga?

_As a pup, I had a terrible habit of hiding things. Especially dangerous or important things. It was all quite fun actually—until I was caught of course._

I don't know, Father,_ I yipped. My voice, like any other young pups, was high pitched and down-right adorable._

Mm-hmm,_ he hummed._

I'm not telling you where it is, Father, so there's really no point in asking me. _I tried to be as cute as possible. It wasn't working._

Are you saying you refuse to answer me, pup?_ I could hear the warning echoing through his growling. But as a pup, I was certain I could get away with anything, as long as I acted cute enough. How wrong I was._

"_Sesshomaru! Where on earth did you get so torn up?" Mother asked, though I had the suspicion that she already knew. One of my mother's dearest friends, Tsukikage, stood beside her. She looked upon me with slight amusement though I must say I preferred her over Mother's various other 'friends'._

_She spoke up, in her soft voice, "Tsuyayaka, perhaps we should get him cleaned up? Surely you do not want any more blood to stain the floor. After all, Lord Shingi and his Lady Seijitsu are coming later to discuss some…plans…are they not?"_

_Mother sighed, "Yes, we would not want them thinking that we are mindless savages who half-kill our children for fun, would we?"_

_Something told me she wasn't completely opposed to that idea._

"_Come, Sesshomaru," Tsukikage beckoned. "Let's get you cleaned up."_

_I followed her to a small room, one of many that I was not usually allowed to enter. She lifted me and placed me on a stool, then went to a small cupboard containing bandages and salve._

"_So tell me, little one, what happened?"_

_Ah, here was the Tsukikage I knew. The kind, gentle Tsukikage. The one that made me think of a warm fire on a winter night. And those sweet biscuits she called sugar cookies. She wasn't allowed to give me those anymore. Father said they turned me into a "raging ball of hyper-active fur." She still gave them to me when he was gone. Again, she was my favorite out of all of my mother's friends._

"_I wouldn't tell Father where I hid Sou'unga and he got mad. Said something about me being too arrogant for my own good." I paused for a moment as she laughed. "What does arrogant mean?"_

_She simply chuckled as she continued to clean my wounds. She had the power to heal them completely, but any wounds inflicted upon me by my father were to heal on their own. He had an odd way of showing me he loved me._

**End of Flashback**

Yes, Father had had an odd way of "loving" people, but loved them he did. I decide here and now that I would raise Inuyasha in my own way. Father had used unconventional methods to raise me and now I will use my own methods to raise my little brother. I will teach him to fight. To stand up for himself. To become so strong that he won't need to back down from any challenge. I will fight him for our father's sword, the Tessaiga. For if he cannot get to it, he will not wield it. Our father christened him Inuyasha.

I, Sesshomaru, will make him worthy of that name.

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**I've always loved the idea of Sesshomaru having some twisted way of raising Inuyasha, like, he doesn't know any other way to raise him because that's how he himself was raised…know what I mean?**


End file.
